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 60 vines and the ant-acacia DHJanzen100142.jpg high resolution
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| An experimental 1-3 m tall ant-acacia whose ants were removed by spraying with parathion so that the plant structure remained the same, but there were no protective ants. The ant-acacia is barely visible as the trellis on which this Dioscorea vine has climbed a year later. The entire array of unoccupied ant-acacias suffered this kind of fate in a year. This kind of shading stopped all further ant-acacia growth, and with combined with the herbivory on these large plants, was essentially lethal. This event caused inspection of other upright woody plants in the same habitat, and it was found that many of them lacked the short stubby side branches at right angles that made such excellent trellises of the ant-acacias. | ||
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